As the situation is ongoing and even tightening, please keep everything with regards to this topic here.

Below a run down on how we got to this point and some information

**What’s happening?**

Poland and other EU countries have accused Belarus of trying to provoke a new refugee crisis in Europe in revenge for their criticism of Alexander Lukashenko’s brutal crackdown on opposition and European sanctions after the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in May, in effect opening up a new migration route to the bloc.
Travel agencies are providing them with flights to Minsk and then a transfer to the EU’s external border. People can be charged €15,000-€20,000 (£12,800-£17,100) when they reach Belarus.

Migrants attempting to cross from Belarus into the EU have become trapped between the two since October, when Polish police were authorised to summarily expel migrants and ignore asylum applications. Belarusian border guards refuse to allow them to turn back, meaning that people from countries including Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan are left in the inhospitable forests as temperatures drop below freezing.

**Polish response:**

Poland has deployed additional border guards, police and the military at its Belarus border. According to the Defense Ministry, the country now has 12,000 soldiers in the region, up from 10,000 deployed ahead of the latest developments. Members of Poland’s army reserve in the border regions were also put on full alert.

Poland has declared a state of emergency in a 3-kilometer-wide strip along its border with Belarus, preventing journalists from working there. That makes it difficult to ascertain what is happening in the zone, but there are many online reports of a large number of people moving toward the frontier.

Poland has insisted on dealing with the crisis on its own, refusing offers of help from Frontex, the EU’s border agency which is headquartered in Warsaw.

Donald Tusk, leader of the opposition Civic Platform party, said Poland should get help from its NATO allies by invoking an article that calls for consultation if an alliance member’s territory is under threat.

**How has the EU responded?**

President of the European Comission Ursula von der Leyen called on EU member states to approve extended sanctions against “Belarusian authorities responsible for this hybrid attack.”

“The Belarusian authorities must understand that pressuring the European Union in this way through a cynical instrumentalisation of migrants will not help them succeed in their purposes,” she said in a statement.

The use “of migrants for political purposes is unacceptable”, von der Leyen said, adding that the EU would also look at how to sanction “third-country airlines” that bring migrants to Belarus.

**Situation is developing.**

Some official links and footage:

[Euronews with actual footage, Nov 8th](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf3HGFE6cds)

[Twitter link to Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (in English)](https://twitter.com/PolandMFA)

**We are aware that this is a hot topic at the moment and we would like to remind you that racism, advocating violence, hate speech, personal attacks and agenda pushing are still bannable offences**

27 comments

  1. [Massive campsite right at the border.](https://twitter.com/i/status/1457728765249916929) It’s expected new assault will begin tomorrow morning.

    Additionally, videos from the campsite, about an hour ago:
    [First](https://twitter.com/i/status/1457787047230337025)
    [Second](https://twitter.com/i/status/1457787313107312646)

    **Edit:**
    [Another video](https://giant.gfycat.com/AnnualIdealisticAmericanblackvulture.webm), taken more recently.
    **Edit2:**
    [Yet another video](https://streamable.com/gwilrk), taken 10 minutes ago.

  3. The Belarusian border guard has already been noted firing over the border recently, as well as cutting the fencing and sabotaging Polish efforts to keep their own border secure.

    At this point if the Belarus authorities continue to try and undermine the Polish wall and threaten Polish soldiers, I wouldn’t be against them firing back. Maybe that’s insane though in retrospect … since it could quickly escalate.

  5. I think it’s also worth noting that the Polish (an I think Lithuanian as well) side offered a humanitarian help (as far as I remember in the name of the whole EU) for those people to feed and cure them, but Belarus denied the access

  6. Are things degenerating right now? I know that in the middle of the day things were already bad. I guess now, on night, tensions are escalating

  8. The U.S and the EU need to sanction this entire government. Disgusting dictator using people’s lives to get back at the EU. Replacement of this government needs to happen.

  9. I saw a video of migrants at the border shouting: Germany, Germany. They think that’s 2015 again, and Merkel is calling them in. Honestly, I’m very sorry that they are used like that. But if they pass, the news will spread quickly, as they were filming all over the place. In a few months we’ll have a new crisis with millions of people leaving for Europe believing that here honey flows on the streets. That will pour gasoline on the fire and we will have even more racism, and extremist parties will rise. So, although I feel sorry for them, I think we should find another solution.

  13. Once again no one is adressing the elephant in the room.

    Have you seen where the planes transporting migrants to Belarus depart from?

    Turkey, Qatar, UAE, Iraq.

    Sanction these countries. Real sanctions, not the light slap you give Turkey every now and then. Nullify every trade treaty with them. Make it a red-line : either they are with Europe or with Belarus. Treat Belarus like North Korea : pariah state with zero communication with the EU.

  16. Could someone explain to me: why is this happening in Poland and not Lithuania at the moment? Obviously there are many migrants going to Lithuania, but most of them go to Poland at the moment.

    In the beginning of the crisis, they were mostly going to Lithuania with fewer going to Poland. I thought this made sense, the borders are of about equal length, but Lithuania has a much smaller population and thus fewer resources to protect the border. Then Lithuania started doing pushbacks and most of the flow was redirected towards Poland, which I believe started doing pushbacks a bit later?

    But at this point, Poland definitely has a more secure border than Lithuania. So why are they going to Poland? I get that the migrants themselves might prefer going to Poland as they’d have to go through Poland anyway on their way to Germany/France/Denmark/whatever, but they don’t get much of a choice here. The location of yesterday’s events was decided by Belarusian officials, not migrants.

    Is Belarus sending migrants to Poland because there’s already a big conflict between Poland and EU, and if they get the Polish forces to apply a bit of force against the migrants that will deepen the conflict? Is it because they actually want to attack a secure border so there is a big humanitarian crisis that they can use for propaganda? Or they want some kind of minor local armed conflict so Lukashenka can claim (I mean, he claims this already) that he’s defending Belarus from NATO invaders, thus somewhat boosting his popularity among some demographic in Belarus?

  19. So now there are reports of hundreds, potentially thousands, of migrants moving towards Lithuania. Fuck, this will be interesting.

  21. https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/1537044/lithuania-moves-to-declare-state-of-emergency-on-border-with-belarus

    https://www.15min.lt/naujiena/aktualu/lietuva/seimas-sieks-dar-antradieni-patvirtinti-nepaprastaja-padeti-pasienyje-56-1594204

    > The Seimas will seek to confirm the state of emergency on the border with Belarus on Tuesday, says the Speaker of the Seimas Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen.

    > On Tuesday, the government proposed to the Seimas to impose a state of emergency on the border with Belarus for a month from midnight.

    > It would apply to the border section and five kilometers to the depths of the country, as well as to migrant settlements in Kybartai, Medininkai, Pabradė, Rukla and Vilnius.

    > According to the Speaker of the Seimas, a draft resolution on the introduction of a state of emergency is currently being prepared. “It should be ready in a couple of hours, <…> it will be registered today,” V. Čmilytė-Nielsen commented to journalists in the Seimas on Tuesday.

    https://www.15min.lt/naujiena/aktualu/lietuva/vsat-antradieni-jau-fiksuota-beveik-100-neteisetu-bandymu-patekti-i-lietuva-56-1594286

    > Almost a hundred attempts to enter Lithuania illegally from Belarus were recorded on Tuesday morning – more than in the previous day, representatives of the State Border Guard Service (SBGS) reported.

    > According to the SBGS, the situation on the Lithuanian border with Belarus on Tuesday morning is stable and under control. Border guards were redeployed as migrants in Belarus pulled a large column towards the Polish border and tried to storm it. It is reported that about 1-2 thousand people gathered there on Monday.

    https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/1537044/lithuania-declares-state-of-emergency-on-border-with-belarus

    > The Lithuanian parliament decided on Tuesday to declare a state of emergency in its border region with Belarus. It comes into effect on Wednesday and marks the first time the legal regime has been used in the country since independence.

    > The state of emergency will come into force on midnight, November 10, and will be in place until December 10 along the border with Belarus stretch and five kilometers inland, as well as in the migrant accommodation facilities in Kybartai, Medininkai, Pabradė, Rukla and Vilnius.

    > The decision passed with 122 MPs voting in favour and one against.

  24. I wish we would send soldiers, to help our Polish brothers, and to defend the borders of the EU. Show that the EU means business, and that we stand united in protecting our borders.

  26. [Video from the border, recorded by Lukashenka’s regime.](https://streamable.com/h8p9dx) At 00:41 you can spot water cannon brought recently by Polish police.

    Today morning Polish soldiers have spotted Lukashenka’s regime servicemen at the border campsite. ([source](https://twitter.com/terytorialsi/status/1458072501888720905/photo/1))

    [Video from the Belarusian side](https://streamable.com/v079di). It seems Polish soldiers have begun announcing in Arabic (?) language, instead of English.

Leave a Reply